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Reuters 18y

Alpine skiing-Kostelic takes the lead in women's slalom

By Oliver Grassman

LEVI, Finland, March 10 - Janica Kostelic boosted
her campaign to win two World Cups by taking the lead in a
slalom race on Friday.

Overcoming driving snow, the Croatian, who leads the
standings in the overall and slalom World Cups, edged out
second-placed Austrian Marlies Schild by 0.30 seconds in the
first leg.

Kostelic's time of 48.85 seconds was 0.73 ahead of Swede
Anja Paerson, the event's Olympic champion, who was third.

Austrian Kathrin Zettel, wearing bib number one, had the
fourth best time, 0.84 behind Kostelic, while Swede Therese
Borssen was fifth and 1.16 behind the leader.

Kostelic proved the best at coping with the poor visibility
on the Levi Black slope, despite never having raced on the hill
before.

"I had a smooth run, I was relaxed and I had no problem with
the course or the visibility," Kostelic, who won the Olympic
combined title despite illness last month, told reporters. "It's
a nice slope and I feel well and confident."

Paerson and home favourite Tanja Poutiainen, who won her
first World Cup race here two years ago, had some bad turns on
the lower section of the run.

The Finn tied for sixth place with American Resi Stiegler,
with both racers clocking 50.14 seconds. Austrian Nicole Hosp,
the Olympic silver medallist, slipped out of the race.

Schild struggled with back pains during the race and was
uncertain whether she would take part in the second run, which
was due to start at 1800 GMT.

"It's painful, it was not easy but I hope to make it to the
second run," said Schild, who injured her lower back during the
combined slalom in Hajfell, Norway, last weekend.

The Austrian, who won the bronze medal at the Turin Games,
is the only serious contender to Kostelic in the slalom
standings and lies 40 points behind.

Double Olympic speed champion Michaela Dorfmeister, who will
retire after next week's finals in Are, Sweden, started for fun
in the slalom but failed to qualify for the second leg after
losing nearly six seconds on the leader.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Lang)

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